How to avoid axe murderers?

April 24, 2012 11:55 AM

Craigslist ride-sharing - how to avoid creeps? Mid-summer road trip from Vancouver to Regina (via Calgary) and back.

What do you do to vet potential passengers?

My main concerns are:
1) I am moderately social. Don't want to drive in silence, but don't want someone to talk my ear off for 2 days either.
2) I have a very acute sense of smell, and can't tolerate smelly passengers.
3) I want to be safe. Don't want me or my car harmed.

So my questions are:
1) How do you efficiently but tactfully vet people?
2) How can you tell if they're what they claim to be?

Thanks.

posted by wutangclan to Travel & Transportation (7 answers total)

I have not used Zimride, but it seems to aim to help facilitate ridesharing (specifically with passengers paying you a bit toward costs) with some accountability on the part of the driver and rider. Also, they require people to log in with their facebook account.
posted by needs more cowbell at 12:11 PM on April 24, 2012

If you are that worried about it why are you bothering with a hitchhiker? Just drive alone and then 1-3 are a non-issue. I hitchhike to work every day, I'm not anti ride-sharing. However, I've accepted that the price I pay for that is the occasional car ride with somebody that has too much perfume, or not enough deodorant, or driving skills that make me nervous.

If you really need a companion on the ride try to work through friends so that at worst you are dealing with a friend of a friend.
posted by COD at 12:30 PM on April 24, 2012

Best answer: Requiring complete sentences and a lack of typos, combined with an intolerance of texting abbreviations, has shown to be a remarkably good filter for me. This has worked for roommates, online dating, ride sharing, subletting, casual labor, getting people to actually come and pick up the free thing they say they want, and other interwebs-to IRL situations.
posted by rockindata at 1:56 PM on April 24, 2012 [9 favorites]

Take a MeFite! (By which I mean, memail me if you're travelling Regina --> Vancouver in August, and don't mind having a different rideshare each direction.)
posted by snorkmaiden at 4:21 PM on April 24, 2012

Response by poster: rockindata, great advice...so long as I don't end up giving a ride to Hannibal Lecter.

snorkmaiden, you're on! MeMail to follow.
posted by wutangclan at 6:40 PM on April 24, 2012

Also try going on Couchsurfing for ride shares. You'll have to make a profile and everything, but once you do you can also see the other peoples' profiles and then you'll be able to get an idea who you'll be driving with.

In Quebec we have things like Allo stop and Amigo express which are rideshare companies. I don't know if they have that in the west but I'm guessing they must.
It's way less sketchy than craigslist because you have to pay to become a member and then the other passengers who have ridden with you before can comment on their experience with you.
posted by costanza at 7:54 PM on April 24, 2012

Ask to meet in person for a coffee or a light lunch before deciding if you can stand to be in a car with them for a few days.
posted by porpoise at 8:32 PM on April 24, 2012